1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gas discharge path suitable for high voltages, high frequencies and high numbers of switching actuations, and is more particularly concerned with a gas discharge path which comprises two or more series-connected individual arresters in which each individual arrester contains two electrodes which extend into two openings of an insulator tube and are connected to the insulator tube in a vacuum-type manner and comprise end faces lying opposite one another.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,091, fully incorporated herein by this reference, discloses an overvoltage arrester comprising the structure set forth above. Although such an overvoltage arrester has a short response time, it has a relatively long deionization time which does not allow the use of such an overvoltage arrester as a switch for high frequencies in the kHz range.
The British Patent No. 1,439,775, fully incorporated herein by this reference, discloses a gas-filled overvoltage arrester comprising copper electrodes and comprising a coating of bismuth, antimony, zinc or tin on at least a portion of the discharge surfaces. This arrangement is intended to increase the response rapidity. However, the aforementioned materials fundamentally do not allow an adequately short deionization time for utilization at frequencies in the kHz range.